(TibetanReview.net, Mar 10, 2009) — China admitted Mar 6 that it had deployed more security forces in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) but maintained that this accorded with the region’s needs. Deployment of armed police in Tibet is no exceptional practice, as they are deployed in all other Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, the official Xinhua News Agency Mar 6 cited Kang Jinzhong, political commissar of the TAR Armed Police Division, as saying.

The AFP Mar 7 said the Chairman of the TAR Government Qiangba Puncog as claiming the additional deployment had nothing to do with last year’s riot. “Tibet covers a large area and more people are traveling in and out of the region. The current deployment of police and border defence forces is simply not enough,” the official China Daily newspaper Mar 7 quoted him as saying. It cited Kang as claiming there was no “sudden increase” in their numbers in Tibet since last year’s riot.

However, the report also cited Puncog as saying the troop deployment was a “usual and necessary” security measures for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising. “I cannot swear that some individuals won’t make reckless moves next week, but riots like those seen last March won’t happen again,” it quoted him as saying.